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Video Game Music You Love

I was going to say 'your favorite video game music', but it's just impossible to pick only one for me, so why not share all your favorite? Here's some of the top scores in my opinion.

Of course, no discussion of Video Game Music can exist without mentioning the two greatest names in the field: Koji Kondo (Legend of Zelda) and Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy). Both brought whole new standards of game music quality to the genre.

The original Legend of Zelda Theme Song was a masterpiece of its kind. Working with 8 bit limitations and a mere two channels, he came up with one of the most haunting and memorable songs which ANY video gamer will instantly recognize. I could have linked the orchestrated version, but really... this is the sound that caught the imagination of a generation.

Link To The Past was also absolutely full of wonderful music, but a special shout out to the dungeon theme. Haunting, creepy, sinister... yea. And let's not forget the Castle music either. It lets you know from the introductory cymbal clash that you're in for a fight.

Another song which pops up here that is found in later offerings of the Zelda series is Kakariko Village. OoT also featured it, but didn't improve much on the quality of the song, although the Orchestrated Remix is also hauntingly beautiful.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Gerudo Valley. Mariachi-style guitar, trumpets, a catchy beat... one of the best. I prefer the original to the symphonic. This sounds like you're going into a bar south of the border in Mexico, complete with feisty Senoritas and Antonio Banderas up on stage.

FF I - Main Theme This song has been considered by some as the song which saved Squaresoft. I know when I heard it for the first time, I was like... "Whoa... I didn't know you could do THAT with 8 bit two-track audio". It will always hold a special place in my memories.

FF VI - Aria de Mezzo Carattere (a.k.a. The Opera Music, or Celes's Theme). Do I really need to say more? This still brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it. Actually, I don't think there's a single sound track in this whole game that isn't made of win, but that one stands out among the awesome as being... well... awesomer.

The other song I simply cannot go without mentioning from VI is the Ending Theme. Not just because it incorporates all of the character themes into it, but because it... hell, I dunno. Some games let you down with a cheesy 'Game Over' once you beat the game. FF VI? Didn't. This song carries with it the memory of finally beating one of the most Nintendo Hard bosses ever put in an RPG, and one you developed a personal grudge for. This song is the sound of victory, pure and distilled. Even though it IS over 20 minutes long.

And, of course... Dancing Mad. Some of the most epic boss battle music ever composed.

FF X: Hymn of Faith. You go from a technologically advanced city with skyscrapers, wake up on a beach... and then there's this. Primal and tribal, the scene really brings home to you that You're Not In Kansas Anymore.

As far as other game songs that I simply can't NOT mention when talking about good game songs?

Chrono Trigger - Frog's Theme. Actually, again another game in which the music score was awesome, and hard to make a decision, but this song just stands out from the crowd.

Secret of Mana - Angel's Fear. When I first put this game into my SNES, I kept wanting to press the A button to start playing, but I couldn't bring myself to interrupt this music.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Clock Tower. There's just something right about amping up the electric guitar to this remake of an older Castlevania offering. It's definitely fitting music for the fast-paced setting, and one sure to get your blood pumping.

Re: Video Game Music You Love

“YISUN was questioned once by their disciples at their speaking house. The questions were the following: ‘What is the ultimate reason for existence?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Self-deception.’
‘How can a man live in perfect harmony?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Non-existence.’
‘What is the ultimate result of all action?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Futility.’
‘How best can we serve your will?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Kindly ignore my first three answers.’

Re: Video Game Music You Love

#3 The music that plays at especially epic cutscenes in the Mass Effect games, whatever it's called.

#4 Leliana's Song from DA:O

#5 not original game music, but "Big Iron" from Fallout: New Vegas

A number of honorable mentions:

The "Citadel Presidium Commons music". For some reason it took me several minutes to figure out why I got such a happy feeling the first time I visited there in ME3 and then it dawned on me: It was the same music playing as in ME1. It's simple, and repetative, but it is associated with very happy memories

Most other music from Diablo 1 and 2 fell JUST outside my top 5 list above.

"If I have to fight through guards, I've made a mistake." - Thane
"HERP, DERP! NINJAAAAAAA!!!!!" - Kai Leng

Shepard: "Wrex! Do we have mawsign?"
Wrex: "Shepard, we have mawsign the likes of which even Reapers have never seen!"

And of course, I can't not mentioned Persona 4 itself, with the original Reach Out to the Truth as its fight theme and the ending theme, Never More. Also, the music to the final boss, The Gensis, which is very subdued and foreboding for the most part, but then as the fight is reaching its climax you get the most amazing, truimphant-sounding version of Reach Out to the Truth imaginable, which makes the final victory so much more sweet.

A lot of Sonic music. Of course Live and Learn and City Escape from Adventure 2, but I'm surprisingly also quite fond of the final boss music from Sonic and the Black Knight, With Me. And of course, much the music from the original games, and the remix of Angel Island Zone from Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Oh, and the boss them from Blue Dragon, Eternity. Made it impossible not to like boss fights in that game.

And this music from Mega Man 2, which is pretty much what I think of whenever I think of great 8-bit music.

And I think that's enough for now.

Zevox

Last edited by Zevox; 2012-11-06 at 09:38 AM.

Toph Pony avatar by Dirtytabs. Thanks!

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis

"We each decide our own sense of right and wrong. The rest, I leave to my sword." - Yuri Lowell, Tales of Vesperia

Re: Video Game Music You Love

I for one cannot let this thread go without mentioning my pet favorite game, FFT, especially the music, which sets the mood for each scene perfectly, even out of context they are still beautiful pieces

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis

"We each decide our own sense of right and wrong. The rest, I leave to my sword." - Yuri Lowell, Tales of Vesperia

Re: Video Game Music You Love

It's... nice? I don't like it as much, really. It's certainly epic. But Morrowind... Morrowind is the feeling of coming home made into a piece of music. While also being about mystery and exploration.

“YISUN was questioned once by their disciples at their speaking house. The questions were the following: ‘What is the ultimate reason for existence?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Self-deception.’
‘How can a man live in perfect harmony?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Non-existence.’
‘What is the ultimate result of all action?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Futility.’
‘How best can we serve your will?’ To which YISUN replied, ‘Kindly ignore my first three answers.’

Re: Video Game Music You Love

95% of all music I listen to is either game or TV soundtracks, so to list it all would be thunderously time-consuming...

In short, some of the most frequent stuff I listen to is Pokemon, TIE Fighter, Command & Conquer (across all the games including the non-C&C Universe at War (of which the best part was the soundtrack, especially the main and ending themes and was done by the guy who did most of C&C). There is a distinct preference towards the battle-themes of same. Out of Final Fantasy, ironically despite it being my least favourite of the series, FF8's music (especially Don't Be Afraid and Force Your Way) is the one I listen to most.

Also, there are two games I've played that were built entirely around a genre of music, and besides having amazing soundtracks, a lot of star power and being funny as hell, they were also great games in their own right. I'm referring to Fight for New York and Brutal Legend. If anyone was thinking of other games from that description, I'd like to know about them!

"I hated one of the games in this genre 7 years ago, so this other game I know nothing about sucks!"

I should also give a nod to Eternal Sonata. It's quite possibly the cheesiest thing I've ever played, but it's got a reallyprettysoundtrack.

Originally Posted by Winterwind

Mewtarthio, you have scared my brain into hiding, a trembling, broken shadow of a thing, cowering somewhere in the soothing darkness and singing nursery rhymes in the hope of obscuring the Lovecraftian facts you so boldly brought into daylight.